Kiran Pahal seemed to be running a different race. By the time she ran around the bend and pushed on for a final kick down the straight, she had left the entire field in her wake.
As the 23-year-old powered through the home stretch, she probably did not realise that she was well on her way to qualifying for the Paris Olympics with a breathtaking time of 50.92 seconds, breaching the qualification standard of 50.95s.
She produced her stellar show in the semi-final of women’s 400m race at the Inter-State Athletics Championships. Her time (50.92s) was the second fastest by an Indian woman. Only Hima Das (50.79s) has run faster. Kiran had been impressive in the heats too, clocking 52.33sec in the morning. In the evening, she had enough in reserve to go even faster and qualify for Paris.
“I just wanted to clock my personal best and win. I am happy that I have qualified for Olympics. I have always competed thinking if others can qualify, why can’t I do the same but it has been a long journey, especially in the last one year,” said Kiran.
As soon as the race ended, Kiran was surrounded by media. There was a lump in her throat when questions veered towards her family. She stopped for a moment before replying, “They don’t support me. For last one year I have not received any calls from my mother or brother. My father passed away two years back and after that there was no support. They wanted me to leave the sport,” she said.
Kiran has grown up in a Sonepat village. Her father was a peon in a court but passed away in 2022. Though she is working as a junior clerk in Railways, Kiran says funding her training is a challenge. “I have even borrowed money for training and diet. Our financial condition worsened after father’s death,” said Kiran who has three siblings.
Out of the national camp since last year, Kiran was struggling with a hamstring injury and her personal issues. But she then decided to continue training under coach Ashish Chikara in Rohtak.
“It’s been going good and the focus was to come back stronger. Last year was vey bad for me.”
Kiran, who exploded on the scene as a talented junior and clocked 51.84s in 2022, has had an inconsistent last year. In March last year she clocked 54.29 at Indian Open. At the Federation Cup, she timed 55.28s and by the end of the season it was 56.03 at the National Open Championships.
But in the Olympic year, she has been hitting her strides. In the Harayana meet this year, she recorded an impressive 52.13s. “I wanted to run today as if it was my last race. I will try and improve in final. I also want to compete for India in relays.”
The women’s 400m relay team has qualified but with Kiran not being a camper, it will be difficult for AFI to select her in relay team as per policy. Only national campers are picked in teams. “We have a strict policy and we cannot break that for anyone. She can definitely compete in individual 400m” said an AFI official.
There has been a spate of quarter-milers failing dope test in recent times and NADA was very active on the first day here with around 25 officials present to collect dope samples.
Meanwhile high jumper Sarvesh Kushare has entered the Paris qualification cut-off by climbing to 29th place in the ‘Road to Paris’ rankings. He had cleared 2.23m in two recent meets and hopes to seal his place for the Games here.